ISIS Planned Attack - TARGET: Unnamed Canadian Mall
An NBC News report says Canadian authorities have heard would-be terrorists
discussing potential ISIS-inspired "knife and gun" attacks against
Canadian and
US targets in Canada. The report quotes unidentified US intelligence
officials.
NBC says the targets were in public places and crowded streets. RCMP
Commissioner Bob Paulson said the force has about 63 active security
investigations on 90 suspected extremists who intend to join fights abroad
or
who have returned to Canada. "The attitude and the policy of ISIS is
not really
high tech sabotage or terrorism, their position has always been to use low
tech,
you know someone like that going to a mall, shooting and stabbing people.
It's
different. It's terrorism of course, but it's terrorism diffused,
low tech, a
bunch of guys going to a mall and killing a handful of people and or going
to
another public place and hurting people. Al-Qaeda preferred the big
spectacular
terrorist act, a mega explosion. ISIS is much smarter because it can inspire
their followers or their potential followers by simply saying do something
small
for the cause, go and kill somebody, go and cut somebody’s head off,"
he says.
(Source
news1130.com)

Retail giants Walmart, Sears and Lowe's are suffering in Canada -
Target's Not
Alone - The Canadian SqueezeWalmart Canada Corp., Target Canada Corp., Sears Canada Inc. and
Lowe's
Canada - all large-format retailers with origins in the U.S. - are either
posting diminishing returns or operating losses, says a new state of the
retail
industry report from Desjardins Securities analyst Keith Howlett. Same-store
sales at Walmart Canada have declined in six of the last seven quarters,
with
just a 0.2% rise in the most recent quarter. Home improvement chain
Lowe's has
had strong recent same-store sales growth, but that's been in part due
to the
closure and conversion of Rona's big-box stores, and the retailer is
still
losing money as it heads into its eighth year of operations in Canada. In
the
meantime, multiple smaller Canadian chains including Reitmans Ltd., Le
Chateau
Inc., Danier Leather Inc. and Bikini Village Inc. have been struggling and
reducing store count as they compete with stronger players such as Gap Inc.,
Joe
Fresh and H&M. In the last two years, retailers including Best Buy and
sister
chain Future Shop, Toys R Us Canada, Staples and Indigo Books & Music
have also
closed some stores in favour of opening smaller locations and reducing
overall
square footage while they focus on building up their online sales
channels.
(Source
financialpost.com)

Canada's "Combating Counterfeit Products Act" passes latest
hurdle
Canada's Combating Counterfeit Products Act is inching closer to
reality,
passing its third reading in Parliament late last week. Brian Isaac, partner
at
Smart & Biggar Fetherstonhaugh, has welcomed the move, noting:
"While some
concerns have been raised regarding the provisions of Bill C-8, reform of
Canada's anti-counterfeiting laws is overdue and the anti-counterfeiting
community in Canada welcomes the apparent renewed interest in the issue by
the
government of Canada." World Trademark Review has previously reported
on the
bill, which was introduced in March 2013 and would amend the Copyright Act
and
the Trademarks Act to add new civil and criminal remedies and new border
measures in both acts. Specifically, the enactment would:

● create new civil causes of action with
respect to
activities that sustain commercial activity in infringing copies and
counterfeit
trademarked goods;

● create new criminal offences for
trademark counterfeiting
that are analogous to existing offences in the Copyright Act;

● create new criminal offences prohibiting
the possession or
export of infringing copies or counterfeit trademarked goods, packaging or
labels;

● enact new border enforcement measures
enabling customs
officers to detain goods that they suspect infringe copyright or trademark
rights and allowing them to share information relating to the detained goods
with rights owners who have filed a request for assistance, in order to give
the
rights owners a reasonable opportunity to pursue a remedy in court;

● exempt the importation and exportation of
copies and goods
by an individual for their personal use from the application of the border
measures; and

● add the offences set out in the Copyright
Act and the
Trademarks Act to the list of offences set out in the Criminal Code for the
investigation of which police may seek judicial authorisation to use a
wiretap.
(Source
worldtrademarkreview.com)

Trial begins for man charged in mass shooting, double murder at Eaton Centre
The man accused of murdering two people in a mass shooting at Toronto's
busy
Eaton Centre is in court today facing a jury at the first day of his trial.
Christopher Husbands is facing two counts of first-degree murder and five
counts
of aggravated assault – one for each person injured by the spray of bullets
fired in the middle of the mall's crowded food court back in June 2012.
One of
the injured was a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the head but recovered
from
his wounds. A pregnant woman who was desperately trying to flee the mall
after
the shots rang out was trampled by the crowd. For that, the suspect is also
facing one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm Husbands, who
was 23
at the time the shooting took place, has pleaded not guilty to all charges
and
will defend his case in the coming weeks at the downtown Toronto courthouse
where the trial is taking place. Husbands is also facing two multi-million
dollar civil lawsuits from the families of the deceased, 22-year-old Nixon
Nirmalendran and 24-year-old Ahmed Hassan. The lawsuit also names Hamilton
and
Toronto police, Eaton Centre owner Cadillac Fairview Corp. and the province.
(Source
cp24.com)

Police
bust $200K shoplifting ring operating out of a few houses in
Vancouver
They have recovered more than $200,000 in stolen high-end clothing. Police
say
at about 8 p.m. on Oct. 2 they executed a search warrant at a home on
Fremlin
Street near East 41 Avenue following an investigation into an organized
retail
crime group. They believe that the organizers contracted out retail thieves
who
would steal high-end clothing. Those items were then brought to that home
and
then organized, advertised on various Internet sites and sold on the
underground
black market. As many as 20 people per hour were seen coming and going from
the
home, with many arriving in luxury vehicles to take away their stolen
bargains.
Police say they will be requesting charges of possession of property
obtained by
crime over $5,000 against three people and they have also seized three
vehicles
believed to have been used to transport the goods. (Source
globalnews.ca)

Charges laid after dramatic RCMP chase east of Swift Current,
Saskatchewan
RCMP in Swift Current have laid a slew of charges against a Calgary man who
allegedly led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car. David Lee
Little,
38, faces nine charges, including robbery, assault causing bodily harm,
flight
from police, dangerous driving and assaulting a police officer with a
weapon.
Mounties say a man robbed a store in Swift Current, then pulled a 77-year-
old
woman from her car and drove away with the vehicle Monday morning.
(Source
ctvnews.ca)

Halton Police arrest a Toronto man for numerous fraud-related
charges
A Toronto man has been arrested for credit card fraud and mail theft, said
Halton Regional Police on Monday. Investigations found fraudulent credit
card
applications had been completed online, using stolen personal information.
After
the credit cards were approved, they were mailed to the unknowing
victims'
addresses where they were intercepted moments after delivery. Once the
credit
cards were taken, they were used to buy thousands of dollars of merchandise
in
unauthorized credit. (Source
torontoobserver.ca)

Highlights:
● Total monthly retail sales changed by 6.6 per cent over the
comparable month
last year.
● Total sales excluding food, automotive and gasoline changed by 6.4
per cent
over the comparable month last year.
(Source
retailcouncil.org)